I placed a jar in Tennessee, And round it was, upon a hill. It made the slovenly wilderness Surround that hill. The wilderness rose up to it, And sprawled around, no longer wild. The jar was round upon the ground And tall and of a port in air. It took dominion everywhere. The jar was gray and bare. It did not
jump to
states
Tennessee
A native of Mufreesboro and state poet laureate since 1995, Margaret Britton Vaughn's literary accomplishments are widespread. She has published numerous books of poetry, penned the official bicentennial poem of Tennessee, and she wrote the official poem for the Tennessee state quarter,“Mr. Tennessee Music Man.”
recent & featured listings
type |
name | state |
|---|---|---|
| Radio Program | Everyday Poetry | Tennessee |
| Festival | Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word | Tennessee |
| Reading Series | Southbound: Southern Lit Alliance | Tennessee |
| Reading Series | River City Writers' Series | Tennessee |
| Colony | Tennessee Young Writers' Workshop | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | University of Tennessee, Chattanooga | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | University of Tennessee, Knoxville | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | Vanderbilt University | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | University of Memphis | Tennessee |
| Writing Program | Middle Tennessee State University Writer's Loft | Tennessee |
poems
poem
1954
poem
2012
Not tenderness in the eye but the brute need to see accurately: over the ridge on a trail deep in Tennessee, the great poet looked out and saw the vista that confederate soldiers saw as they rode over the edge rather than surrender. I saw only the edge of the cliff side itself and then estimated the distance
poem
2003
Flashing in the grass; the mouth of a spider clung
to the dark of it: the legs of the spider
held the tucked wings close,
held the abdomen still in the midst of calling
with thrusts of phosphorescent light--
When I am tired of being human, I try to remember
the two stuck together like burrs. I
